Those lucky Falcons: Mike Mularkey goes to Jacksonville
Double M leaves! Touchdown! (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
The Jacksonville Jaguars, for reasons unclear, have hired Mike Mularkey as head coach. That means the Atlanta Falcons lucked out. They’ve been spared having to fire him as offensive coordinator.
The belief here was that Double M, as he’s known, wasn’t going to be retained, but that’s not to say the decision would have been painless. The Falcons won a lot of (regular-season) games with Mularkey overseeing the offense, and it’s never easy to break a winning pattern even if you know the pattern needs breaking.
Moot point now, though. Mularkey is gone, same as defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder. The Falcons have two key hires to make this offseason, and the offensive position is surely the more important. In the end, offensive failings undid this talented aggregation. The Falcons need to find a man who could make these glittering pieces more of a whole.
Mike Martz is a name that keeps surfacing, but I might look first to Rick Neuheisel, who was just fired as UCLA’s head coach but who’s an offensive man by trade and who worked as coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. That’s just a first look, though. There are a handful of good men out there whose addition would constitute an upgrade.
The Falcons, I say again, lucked out. A staleness had come over this coaching staff. That’s inevitable after four years together, and now the team gets to change on both offense and defense without having to fire anybody. Auburn and Jacksonville came calling at the right time, Jacksonville especially. Time now for Smitty and Thomas Dimitroff to make the most of this opportunity. Time to hire even better coordinators.
By Mark Bradley
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465 comments Add your comment
mountain_jim
January 11th, 2012
11:38 am
Good post frog – TD has neglected the oline, and not hit on his later round picks either, based on current performances.
This has hurt Ryan’s confidence and performance.
Since draft choices are short, let’s hope he can hit on some FA’s and draft choices and get better oline coaching in here as well.
Big Albany Dawg
January 11th, 2012
11:38 am
the only way this could even get better is if Atlanta would take BOBO away from UGA.
Treeofwoe
January 11th, 2012
11:41 am
Holgorsen! Holgorsen! Holgorsen!
Holgorsen said he can teach his sytem in 3 days That’s pretty amazing. Again…it’s getting the RIGHT play call and teaching your personnel how to execute it. He does as good a job as anyone at that. Heavy screen oriented…yes a coach who knows to use those. Mixes stuff up very very well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Holgorsen
He actually started coaching at Valdosta State. Texas Tech while he was OC was #8, #3, #6 nationally in Total Offense. Took Houston to # 3 and then #1 in total offense in his two year stint there. Oklahoma STate went from #61 to #1 in total offense his first year there. Took WVA to #17 in total offense his first year there. HIRE HIM!
All I'm Saying Is....
January 11th, 2012
11:42 am
Matt Ryan cannot run a Chip Kelly offense — not saying I’m against hiring the Oregon head coach as OC but it would imply significant personnel changes.
No one is talking about race with respect to MV and his offensive line woes. We’re just saying that his offensive line with respect to pass protection was 10 times worse than what we have today yet no one seems to remember that when discussing his on the field issues. (Clearly, he was awful in off the field behavior, horrible decisions, immature, bad work hadbits, etc.). Bottom line is he has playoff wins and Matty “Ice Cold During Crunch Time” Ryan still does not and until that happens (and I think it will) Ryan doesn’t measure up despite the superior regular season successes.
Poach an OC with imagination and success preferably at the NFL level due to shorter learning curve. Same tactic for DC.
LET’S GO FALCONS!
jfreak13713
January 11th, 2012
11:42 am
Who is QB coach for Packers, Saints, or Lions? To me Falcons should look to successful offensive teams for next hire?? These teams are in line with what the NFL currently is and could bring some BOLD and FRESH ideas to a very dull offense. Don’t bring in a retread with old school mentality! Mike Martz might work but from a personality stand point I don’t know that he fits Falcons mold??
SCFalcon
January 11th, 2012
11:43 am
Brad Childress and Mike Nolan!
DawgDad
January 11th, 2012
11:46 am
The TD-Smith-Mularkey-BVG team took a franchise of smoldering ashes with no starting QB and proceeded to rip off four consecutive winning seasons with three playoff appearances. As good as that is this team as constituted has clearly peaked.
On offense Turner-Gonzalez-White-Blalock-McClure-Clabo clearly aren’t going to get any better, it appears Ryan has reached the limits of his physical abilities, and the other two spots on the o-line did not produce nor show any potential for improvement. Turner is not a dump-off threat, and the other spare parts on offense aren’t contributing enough in comparison to the other top teams. Only Julio Jones shows upside potential.
The defense is going to be decimated by free agency and age. Again, you look and have to ask “where is the upside potential”? About all you can point to is the HOPE William Moore and Peria Jerry can overcome injuries and stay on the field.
For this team to step up to the next level TD, Blank, and Smith need to bit the bullet in 2012, turn over many of the veteran players, and focus on making another four-year run beginning in 2013 with a group possessing more upside potential. Fans may scream this offseason and next year, but in the long run it’s in everyone’s best interests.
JSS
January 11th, 2012
11:46 am
O’Brien
January 11th, 2012
11:37 am
“Najeh, I would look strongly at the Saints to see who their QB coach is, and whether or not he has enough time in the league that he would be ready for a promotion to OC. He must have learned alot working with Sean Payton and Drew Brees. And losing him would also be a blow (even if it is only a very small blow) to the Saints.”
I wondered how long it would be before someone mentioned Joe Lombardi is some form or manner…
Lets Be Real
January 11th, 2012
11:46 am
Let’s be real here, DR23 was brought in to be a shut down corner from Houston which was pre Wade Phillips and played a LOT of man to man coverage. They brought him in here and made him play zone. Same thing with Chris Houston, man coverage in college and weak zone here. They are clearly not suited for that type of defense.
The Bronco’s are still alive because the coaching staff recognized they type of players they had and changed accordingly. Scheme should fit the players or bring in players that fit your scheme.
Just my 2 cents…
Football Fan 14
January 11th, 2012
11:50 am
Better check Cam’s stats, great year running the ball but had very few good passing games. His first 2 starts he passed for 400+ yards, his 4th game he passed for 300+ yards bot didn’t reach 300 yards passing in a game the rest of season. 5 out of 6 last games were under 210 yards passing. A very good player but by no means the greatest rookie ever. If he was that great Carolina would of made playoffs, he vultured alot of short touchdown runs from the rb’s. He talks like he is a team player/leader but on the field he is a me first player. Next year they will call it a sophmore slump but we know better>
JSS
January 11th, 2012
11:50 am
My good, you people calling for the W. VA and Oregon are crazy! You don’t have the line, and you definitely don’t have the QB to run the system!
Treeofwoe
January 11th, 2012
11:52 am
The coach is smart enough to adapt to his personnel period. OL will be our main priority.
Old Dawg
January 11th, 2012
11:52 am
I’m not sold on Martz any more. Slick Rick might be a good choice, however.
JSS
January 11th, 2012
11:54 am
And that is “my goodness” and “offensive systems”
benchwarmer
January 11th, 2012
11:58 am
Dawgdad
I see what you see. It is time to start another four year plan. What the Falcons have has not fully done the job and is poised to begin a slide for the reasons you state. Just hope TD has a better clue this time about what is really important for championship teams and focus on some line improvments. it may be time to seek a replacement for Ryan. His limitations are starting to show. Looks like the league is starting to get his number.
O'Brien
January 11th, 2012
11:58 am
JSS,
As Adrian Monk would say…”He’s the guy”. Plus he has ties to the Falcons.
Joe Lombardi enters his fifth season with the Saints and third as quarterbacks coach after having served as an offensive assistant the first two years.
In his previous position, he was heavily involved in the preparation of the quarterbacks and passing attack as well, having worked closely with offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr. Lombardi also stepped in for a brief stint as the running backs coach near the end of 2008.
He arrived in New Orleans with extensive coaching experience on both sides of the ball, most recently serving as defensive assistant for the Atlanta Falcons in 2006. While in that role, Lombardi worked with a defensive line that combined for 25.5 sacks.
'94 UGA Alumnus
January 11th, 2012
12:00 pm
Now if you could just say that Mike Bobo has been hired as a head coach somewhere then this would be an almost perfect day.
CGD..
January 11th, 2012
12:00 pm
for those Fans who saw that MELTODOWN live, I salute you!
CGD..
January 11th, 2012
12:03 pm
“The TD-Smith-Mularkey-BVG team took a franchise of smoldering ashes with no starting QB and proceeded to rip off four consecutive winning seasons with three playoff appearances. As good as that is this team as constituted has clearly peaked. ”
All for naught, when your getting DESTROYED IN THE PLAYOFFS..PLAYOFFS???
daroosta
January 11th, 2012
12:07 pm
Billick OC and Del Rio DC. Watch it happen. Whoever comes in needs to convince the defensive minded Mike Smith to open it up and get more aggressive on both sides of the ball. Otherwise, we get the same results next year. The head coach dictates team mentality and game plan expectations.
Joe from Cvegas
January 11th, 2012
12:11 pm
Everyone keeps bringing up Mike Martz, Hue Jackson and Bill Musgrave. No way I would take a chance with either of them. Bring in Brian Billick as OC, look at his numbers with Minnesota when he was OC, and he won the superbowl with Trent Dilfer in Baltimore! (helluva defense for that squad i know but Ray Lewis doesn’ pass the ball) I mean Trent Dilfer people! Cmon!
Billick would be the right guy to make this offense explosive, he takes shots down the field, runs the football and makes use of his 3rd and 4th recievers and utilizes screen passes. Mularky didnt even use Harry Douglas at all and never called for a screen pass.Billick would be a huge boost for the offense.
Defensively I would love to see Steve Spags here but all signs point to Philly for him. Jack Del Rio would be an interesting choice also, and Mike Nolan as well. I hope we land someone who will play some man coverage and blitz more often with different packages. BVG’s defense according to Jon Gruden, ” I don’t know why they play this predictable 2 deep zone” anyone would be an upgrade over BVG.
Northern Bird
January 11th, 2012
12:12 pm
Thank god Mularkey is gone, let’s see what Matty and the boys can do.
Josh McDaniels, are you kidding me ? His moves in denver showed how stupid he was.
Hardy Dog, you are ripping the defence ? They played well in the loss to the Giants. I will agree their is room for improvement with regards to consistency, but the offense really killed us in more then just the giants game. I welcome any new OC
JSS
January 11th, 2012
12:17 pm
Laughing at this statement…
“Football Fan 14
January 11th, 2012
11:50 am
“Better check Cam’s stats, great year running the ball but had very few good passing games. His first 2 starts he passed for 400+ yards, his 4th game he passed for 300+ yards bot didn’t reach 300 yards passing in a game the rest of season. 5 out of 6 last games were under 210 yards passing.”
Down the stretch, his team went 4-2…
In the last two games of Newton’s rookie season.
12 for 17 for 171 with 3 TD passes 142 QBR and his team won 48-16… He did not need to throw for a high yardage total… They made a conscious effort to run the ball… Check the numbers, especially his QBR, completion pct, and his TD to INT ratio…
The Saints game was a blowout… So let’s be realistic…
Newton had three bad games in his first season
The first Atlanta game, his final 20 minutes of that game was brutal. For 40 minutes, they were beating the Falcons.
The back-to-back poor performances in the Tennessee and Detroit games were his other two bad games…
Even though he threw 3 INTs versus the Packers, his big plays why they were even in that game….
lamac66
January 11th, 2012
12:19 pm
@Sayin
No one is talking about race with respect to MV and his offensive line woes. We’re just saying that his offensive line with respect to pass protection was 10 times worse than what we have today yet no one seems to remember that when discussing his on the field issues. (Clearly, he was awful in off the field behavior, horrible decisions, immature, bad work hadbits, etc.). Bottom line is he has playoff wins and Matty “Ice Cold During Crunch Time” Ryan still does not and until that happens (and I think it will) Ryan doesn’t measure up despite the superior regular season successes.
I can respect this post.
Dave
January 11th, 2012
12:24 pm
2 problems down, now can we try and trade Matt Ryan for a package of draft picks to recoup what we gave up to get Jones?
Brian Friel
January 11th, 2012
12:25 pm
Bring in Brian Billick!!!!!!
JSS
January 11th, 2012
12:27 pm
Folks, you don’t have veterans Cris Carter and Randall Cunningham to go along blossoming talent Robert Smith (before became indifferent) and Randy Moss (before he became butt crazy) here… Oh, you have some very talented pieces, but Billick only exploited that properly 15 weeks… He was horrible in the NFC Championships!
JSS
January 11th, 2012
12:28 pm
Billick is overrated…
lamac66
January 11th, 2012
12:29 pm
@PMC
Why can’t we have sensible discussions about the direction of the team and bring up some of the historical problems?
Because folks don’t like to put things into their historical context. Happens sometimes with delusion.
lamac66
January 11th, 2012
12:30 pm
Interesting comments on Falcons press conference today.
Heath
January 11th, 2012
12:33 pm
The Falcons have ALL the luck. Why can’t someone hire away Mike Bobo?
Face it...
January 11th, 2012
12:35 pm
DON ‘T HIRE RETREADS!!!
JSS
January 11th, 2012
12:36 pm
@ lamac66
Co-sign @ 12:29PM…
PMC
January 11th, 2012
12:36 pm
I’m intrigued by the Joe Lombardi talk. We could do worse than poaching an excellent assistant from one of the best offenses in the league.
Ackshun
January 11th, 2012
12:37 pm
OC we need an outsider with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove like a Sean Payton. DC we need to kiss butt and do whatever is necessary to get Wade Phillips back.
Jacksonville Jaguars hire Mike Mularkey as Head Coach « Eye of the Storm
January 11th, 2012
12:39 pm
[...] columnist Mark Bradley feels about the Jaguars hiring Mularkey; he considers the Falcons lucky to have Mularkey taken off their [...]
JROLL1
January 11th, 2012
12:47 pm
MEL TUCKER AS DC…..MARTZ FOR OC…AND THROW THE BALL TO HARRY DOUGLAS AT LEAST 2-3 TIMES PER GAME!
JSS
January 11th, 2012
12:50 pm
The thing about Lombardi, he “may” have the same bad taste in his mouth about Falcons that Jackson has because of the way they were all let go…
lamac66
January 11th, 2012
12:51 pm
Let’s see if A. Blank keeps his word
UGA 89
January 11th, 2012
12:59 pm
Yall act like the Falcons are so much better than Jax. What exactly has the Falcons done that’s so much better than the Jaguars? They have had more success in their short 18yrs than the Falcons who have been around three times as longer. Look what they did in their first four years in the league!! Until the Falcons win something, let’s stop putting down other teams. We haven’t done a darn thing either!!!!
lamac66
January 11th, 2012
1:00 pm
Lot of references to catching the ball. A. Blank mentioned OL didn’t play their best. Everything addressed but you’re QB’s limitations…same ole same ole
Next year’s gonna be hella interesting.
O'Brien
January 11th, 2012
1:02 pm
During the press conference, TD said how the offensive line was 6th in fewest sacks allowed, which was good.
Howeva…Mr Blank intervened and said numbers are misleading (in a vacuum), because just because you are not giving up sacks doesnt mean you’re doing your job.
He said maybe your QB is forced to throw the ball away (he mentioned how Matty was only sacked twice against the Giants but was under constant pressure), maybe he is forced to take the check down instead of going deep.
I’m glad Arthur stepped in.
cdog
January 11th, 2012
1:04 pm
FALCONS SHOULD BRING IN MIKE MARTZ AND ONE OF THE RYAN BOYS. THEY NEED AGGRESSIVE MINDED COORDINATORS WHO ISN’T AFRAID OF OTHER TEAMS AS MURLARKEY AND VAN GORDER WERE.
duronimo
January 11th, 2012
1:06 pm
May I kindly suggest Bobo. He’s a much better fit for a pro team. His offensive style is vertical. He likes to stretch the field. All year he had receivers running open but Murray couldn’t hit most of them. A normal pro quarterback would be feasting on his calls. Georgia’s problem solved! Falcon’s problem solved! See how easy it is to fix things.
UGA 89
January 11th, 2012
1:10 pm
Duronimo… I was a supporter of Bobo the entire year but after seeing the Bowl game in person with no change at the QB position to maybe “spark” the offense I ditto what u said. Richt must feel bad about letting him go because he has 5 small kids(triplets) and needs the money. Lol.
Jacksonville Idiots
January 11th, 2012
1:19 pm
Good riddance!! Thanks for the regular season success, but your plateau is evident. Time for a new spark in the Offense and Defense!
PMC
January 11th, 2012
1:19 pm
Still don’t understand why they went into that Giants game forcing Turner, when the obvious better play is throwing to 88 and Harry Douglass and seeing if those linebackers and safeties were up to the task, then working the outsides with the two strongest pieces of the offense at WR against the absolute worst part of the Giants defense at CB.
That was the most mailed in game plan ever.
PMC
January 11th, 2012
1:20 pm
3 step drops Mike?
karl
January 11th, 2012
1:25 pm
I’m very glad BVG and MM are gone. We can do better. But I still think its mostly a player personnel issue. We just don’t have the best players – they’re good, but not elite. Too many holes on the O-line, def. secondary, etc. And TD has made some bad moves – Baker, Jerry, Edwards, Duntae R., G. Reynolds, M. Johnson, and so on.
Therut
January 11th, 2012
1:27 pm
Why no Micheal Turner bashing here? Throw out Tampa Bay and he averaged less than 3 yds per carry last six games. What running back in the NFL that couldn’t that? p.s. Tampa had thrown in the towel